Russians Left Sheltering at Buddhist Temple After Earthquake in Nepal

May 1, 2015

Three Russian citizens have taken refuge in a Buddhist temple in the Nepalese mountains, after the road they were traveling on was destroyed by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that left thousands of people dead, news reports said.

One of the Russian tourists, Yelena Polyanskaya, got in touch with her tour guide elsewhere in Nepal and said that two other Russians — married couple Maria and Alexei Kopylov — were staying with her at the Buddhist temple, TASS cited Russian Travel Industry Union spokeswoman Irina Tyurina as saying Thursday.

"The path that the tourists took to ascend the mountains ran along a narrow gorge, but as a result of the earthquake, the gorge has completely caved in and there is no road back," Tyurina was quoted as saying.

The trapped tourists can only be evacuated by helicopter, but their tour company claimed to have no funds for the rescue mission, Tyurina said, TASS reported.

The Emergency Situations Ministry has located 40 Russians who were reported missing after the earthquake in southern Asia last Saturday that killed more than 5,500 people, Lenta.ru reported.

"All are alive, well and staying in touch," Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Stepanov was quoted as saying.